troubadour

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UK/ˈtruːbəˌdɔː/US/ˈtrubəˌdɔr/

noun

An itinerant composer and performer of songs in medieval Europe; a jongleur or travelling minstrel.

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UncommonScrabble 13

Meanings

nountroubadour (plural troubadours)

plural troubadours

  1. An itinerant composer and performer of songs in medieval Europe; a jongleur or travelling minstrel.

    “"Not a human, not yet a vampire," to paraphrase one of your contemporary musical troubadours.”

    2023 August 17, Jeremy Levick & Rajat Suresh, “Hybrid Creatures” (0:18 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 7, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry)
    1 more example

    Sitting in the courtroom ..., their laptops and tablets propped before them, power cables snaking through convoluted adapters, the Twitterati have sight of witnesses at all times – the troubadours, or perhaps the tricoteuses, of the digital revolution.

    2014 April 24, Alan Cowell, “At Pistorius trial, Twitterati have their day in court”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2023

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna singer of folk songs

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Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Old Frenchtroubadour
  2. Old Occitantrobar“to find”
  3. Englishtroubadour

From Old Occitan trobar (“to find”) via Old French troubadour. Piecewise doublet of trouveur.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic تْرُوبَادُور
  • تْرُوبَادُور (trūbādūr)an itinerant performer of songs
Bulgarian трубаду́р
  • трубаду́р (trubadúr)an itinerant performer of songs
Catalan trobador, trobadora
  • trobadoran itinerant performer of songs
  • trobadoraan itinerant performer of songs
Chinese Mandarin 吟遊詩人 /吟游诗人
  • 吟遊詩人 /吟游诗人 (yínyóu shīrén)an itinerant performer of songs
Czech trubadúr
  • trubadúran itinerant performer of songs
Danish trubadur
  • trubaduran itinerant performer of songs
Dutch troubadour
  • troubadouran itinerant performer of songs
Esperanto trobadoro
  • trobadoroan itinerant performer of songs
Finnish trubaduuri
  • trubaduurian itinerant performer of songs
French troubadour, trouvère
  • troubadouran itinerant performer of songs
  • trouvèrean itinerant performer of songs
  • trobairitzan itinerant performer of songs
  • troubadouressean itinerant performer of songs
German Troubadour, Trobador
  • Troubadouran itinerant performer of songs
  • Trobadoran itinerant performer of songs
  • Troubairitzan itinerant performer of songs
  • Trobairitzan itinerant performer of songs
  • Troubadourinan itinerant performer of songs
Greek τροβαδούρος
  • τροβαδούρος (trovadoúros)an itinerant performer of songs
Hungarian trubadúr
  • trubadúran itinerant performer of songs
Indonesian penyair keliling
  • penyair kelilingan itinerant performer of songs
Italian trovatore, trobadore
  • trovatorean itinerant performer of songs
  • trobadorean itinerant performer of songs
  • trovatricean itinerant performer of songs
  • trobairitzan itinerant performer of songs
Japanese 吟遊詩人, トルバドゥール
  • 吟遊詩人 (gin'yū shijin)an itinerant performer of songs
  • トルバドゥール (torubadūru)an itinerant performer of songs
Korean 음유시인, 트루바두르
  • 음유시인 (eumyusiin)an itinerant performer of songs
  • 트루바두르 (teurubadureu)an itinerant performer of songs
Latin tropātor
  • tropātoran itinerant performer of songs
Polish trubadur
  • trubaduran itinerant performer of songs
Portuguese trovador
  • trovadoran itinerant performer of songs
Romanian trubadur
  • trubaduran itinerant performer of songs
Russian трубаду́р
  • трубаду́р (trubadúr)an itinerant performer of songs
Slovak trubadúr
  • trubadúran itinerant performer of songs
Spanish trovador, trovadora
  • trovadoran itinerant performer of songs
  • trovadoraan itinerant performer of songs
Swedish trubadur
  • trubaduran itinerant performer of songs
Ukrainian трубаду́р
  • трубаду́р (trubadúr)an itinerant performer of songs
Cite this entry
APA

troubadour. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/troubadour

MLA

“troubadour.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/troubadour. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “troubadour,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/troubadour.

Source: troubadour on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.